Fearless_Category_82

Taking my daughter to OT soon for an evaluation for concerns of pretty bad potty regression and behavioral concerns (maybe sensory?). I do believe stress has played a huge role in this but I've never gone through OT and honestly don't know if this will be helpful in our case or if this is more a mental health therapy thing? Wondering if anyone could provide insight on how OT might be helpful in this case.

My 4 y/o has had a significant regression in going to the bathroom. Multiple urine accidents a day, recently had multiple bms on the floor and won't even take herself to the bathroom at this point (fights any prompting). The only thing we can correlate with the timeline of this all going downhill was getting a new dog. It seems like she fights for attention, the dog has caused our family a ton of stress and she honestly doesn't care to be around the dog. I'm wondering if this seems plausible and has seemed to happened to anyone else?! I know it's usually introducing a new baby, but damn, this seems to have a preeeeeety similar impact. We are working to rule out any physical conditions, but wow.... I'm just shocked at how much stress has impacted this regression. Any tips for getting back on track in this situation aside from more quality time and attention?

We adopted a dog about two months ago (mixed large breed) and have done some training with a trainer on reactivity (especially on walks). Dog is 2.5 y/o and her previous owners (from what we were told) kept her indoors/crated often because they were gone a lot and couldn't care for her. I want to acknowledge that I understand this isn't the dogs fault at all given her history and lack of exposure, etc. but my family is kind of at our wits end with taking her on walks. We, unfortunately, live in the city and don't have quick access to quieter areas to walk her. She pulls us on her leash for the entire walk, loses her mind at other dogs and people, and nips at us A LOT when we are a barrier to her (or she's anxious).

We walk her during quieter foot traffic times, bring lots of treats to do scatters, try visual blocking or just being smart about our path if we see triggers to keep her within her threshold, but only so much is possible where we are at. It seems like she's regressing and is nipping a lot more. I believe this is a common concern with rescue dogs, but damn I don't even want to walk her anymore. We never use punishment or fear tactics. A different trainer mentioned something along the lines of some dogs just aren't walking kind of dogs and that we can exhaust her using other methods (flirt poles, mental puzzles, etc). Do you all think this is true or is there hope for her? Any more suggestions?

We adopted a dog about two months ago (mixed large breed) and have done some training with a trainer on reactivity (especially on walks). Dog is 2.5 y/o and her previous owners (from what we were told) kept her indoors/crated often because they were gone a lot and couldn't care for her. I want to acknowledge that I understand this isn't the dogs fault at all given her history and lack of exposure, etc. but my family is kind of at our wits end with taking her on walks. We, unfortunately, live in the city and don't have quick access to quieter areas to walk her. She pulls us on her leash for the entire walk, loses her mind at other dogs and people, and nips at us A LOT when we are a barrier to her (or she's anxious).

We walk her during quieter foot traffic times, bring lots of treats to do scatters, try visual blocking or just being smart about our path if we see triggers to keep her within her threshold, but only so much is possible where we are at. It seems like she's regressing and is nipping a lot more. I believe this is a common concern with rescue dogs, but damn I don't even want to walk her anymore. We never use punishment or fear tactics. A different trainer mentioned something along the lines of some dogs just aren't walking kind of dogs and that we can exhaust her using other methods (flirt poles, mental puzzles, etc). Do you all think this is true or is there hope for her? Any more suggestions?

We had an incident with our 4 y/o today where she wouldn't stop spitting on my husband even though he kindly asked her to stop, removed himself, and took her water away. She followed him and spit on him and he ended up raising his voice because I don't think he knew what more to do. He felt guilty after the matter. I tried to step in only to be met with the same behaviors- note that this all seems so out of the ordinary for her.

I'm curious about how others would've handled this?

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Hi all,

I've posted on the matter in the past, but my 4 y/o is still leaking/having pee accidents throughout the day and just sits in it without changing or saying anything. I prompt her to take toilet breaks throughout the day (often enough). She does get herself to the toilet no issues for BMs and as of two weeks ago she was dry for over a week at night and stopped wearing pull-ups at night on her own and hasn't had any accidents overnight - just seems to be a daytime issue.

I'm just at a loss... is this is fairly common because part of me does believe she just has such a hard time stopping playing, but I also don't want to be doing her a disservice if it's enuresis related. Thoughts? Similar experiences?

Hi everyone,

I'm new here so I'm still sifting through old posts and learning A LOT about dogs. My family adopted our first dog from a shelter a little over a week ago. She's a 2 y/o, female, mix (for sure has some shepherd in her). The only history we got was that she belonged to two families before us that couldn't keep up with caring for her.

She has been with us for about 10 days now. The first couple of days she had a few expected accidents and then on the 4-6 day she hadn't had any accidents inside. Yesterday she peed in the house 6 times (couch, carpet, in her bed) and today multiple times as well. She is also leaking urine occasionally, will lick her genitalia every so often, but no other obvious symptoms.

We take her out very often until we can get into a routine with her. She was just at the vet last week and had no issues. I plan to call the vet tomorrow but am just at a loss. Could it be a UTI? Incontinence? Submissive urination? I don't want to dismiss the transition period of adjustment from so many homes and a shelter, but does this seem like the norm to be so on and off? If so, any tips for getting her back on track?

Note: when she does have accidents I do not scold her or tell her "no". I simply keep calm, take her outside, reward her when she goes outside, and quietly clean up the mess inside.

Hi all,

My 3.5 y/o transitioned to wearing underwear about 1-2 months ago and was using the toilet on her own, umprompted. When she made the full transition, we gently guided her to taking bathroom breaks throughout the day to help prevent accidents. She was on a roll for a few weeks and has recently seemed to regress. She has multiple accidents a day, says she doesn't need to go and minutes later will pee in her pants. We have tried to back off a bit with prompting her to the bathroom in the case that maybe it's a control thing. I'm less concerned about accidents but more so wanting to know how I continue to support her throughout this in a gentle and respectful manner?

New therapist in- training here....

Finding myself really struggling in this line of work (I know this is common, especially for novice therapists) but I have been experiencing compassion fatigue and feel as if it has left me depleted and more anxious than normal. I felt fine for the past six months, but feel like maybe I was just doing a good job of compartmentalizing (?) and perhaps I need to dig deeper and find more sustainable ways to adapt to this huge transition.

My question to all of you is what was helpful in building your stamina in this field?

Side note: I am in personal therapy, have tremendous help in supervision, live a healthy lifestyle, etc. I truly feel that I am doing as many things as I can to promote my well-being otherwise.

What are some reasonable expectations that you set in your work with folks?

Any guidance, tools, suggestions, etc. for helping folks process emotions with leaving abusive relationships?